IG report will accuse James Comey of running 'covert operation against' Trump, report says

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon reveal that former FBI Director James Comey took "extraordinary steps" to deliberately mislead President Donald Trump in an effort to "secretly ... build a conspiracy case against the president," according to a RealClearInvestigations report.

While Horowitz's investigation focused on the origins of the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, with special emphasis on potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Horowitz has reportedly answered why Comey told Trump privately on Jan. 6, 2017, that the FBI was not investigating him when the FBI was, in fact, already deep in its investigation.

According to RealClearInvestigations, Horowitz's report indicates that Comey concocted an elaborate ruse to corner the president.

Sources tell RealClearInvestigations that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon file a report with evidence indicating that Comey was misleading the president. Even as he repeatedly assured Trump that he was not a target, the former director was secretly trying to build a conspiracy case against the president, while at times acting as an investigative agent.

Two U.S. officials briefed on the inspector general's investigation of possible FBI misconduct said Comey was essentially "running a covert operation against" the president, starting with a private "defensive briefing" he gave Trump just weeks before his inauguration. They said Horowitz has examined high-level FBI text messages and other communications indicating Comey was actually conducting a "counterintelligence assessment" of Trump during that January 2017 meeting in New York.

Comey refused to publicly acknowledge what he told Trump in private, which eroded his relationship with the president and led to his firing. It was, of course, Comey's dismissal that ignited accusations that Trump obstructed justice.

To make matters more concerning, Comey allegedly planted an agent inside Trump's White House to report back details about Trump and his top aides.

Additionally, RealClearInvestigations reported that Comey was not working in isolation. Not only did the media report the details about the salacious Christopher Steele dossier just days after Comey met with Trump to discuss the document, but Comey met with then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and a slew of other top intelligence officials including Susan Rice and James Clapper the day before he met with Trump.

Unfortunately, it remains unclear why Comey allegedly took the actions he did, according to RealClearInvestigations, considering the fact that special counsel Robert Mueller determined Trump's campaign did not collude with Russia.

Horowitz completed his investigation. A report detailing investigative conclusions is expected sometime in September.